Memory controller with programmable configuration

ABSTRACT

A memory controller provides programmable flexibility, via one or more configuration registers, for the configuration of the memory. The memory may be optimized for a given application by programming the configuration registers. For example, in one embodiment, the portion of the address of a memory transaction used to select a storage location for access in response to the memory transaction may be programmable. In an implementation designed for DRAM, a first portion may be programmably selected to form the row address and a second portion may be programmable selected to form the column address. Additional embodiments may further include programmable selection of the portion of the address used to select a bank. Still further, interleave modes among memory sections assigned to different chip selects and among two or more channels to memory may be programmable, in some implementations. Furthermore, the portion of the address used to select between interleaved memory sections or interleaved channels may be programmable. One particular implementation may include all of the above programmable features, which may provide a high degree of flexibility in optimizing the memory system.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention is related to the field of memory controllers.

2. Description of the Related Art

Memory controllers are generally included in systems to interfacevarious devices in the system with the memory. Generally, the memorycontroller receives a memory transaction, which includes an address,from one of the devices and accesses the memory using the address. Moreparticularly, the memory controller may use a portion of the address toselect a storage location in the memory for access in response to thememory transaction. In a typical dynamic random access memory (DRAM)controller, for example, a first portion of the address is a row addressfor the DRAM and a second portion of the address is a column address forthe DRAM. Together, the row and column addresses select a storagelocation in the DRAM to be accessed in response to the memorytransaction.

Various memory controllers have implemented other features as well. Forexample, memory controllers have been configured to attach to multiplememory sections, and the memory controller may provide a separate selectsignal (typically referred to as a chip select signal) to each memorysection. By asserting one of the chip select signals, one of the memorysections may be selected to respond to a memory transaction (e.g. byreceiving the row and column addresses provided by the memory controllerand reading or writing the selected storage location). Another portionof the address of memory transactions may be used to determine the chipselect signals.

Another feature of some memory controllers is interleaving. Withinterleaving, two or more memory sections may be combined to represent agiven address range. Portions of the data corresponding to the addressrange may be stored in each of the two or more memory sections, and thememory sections may be accessed in sequence to access all of the datacorresponding to the address range. Interleaving may reduce the overalllatency of the memory transactions by increasing the possibility ofhaving open pages in the memory (e.g. for a set of transactionsclustered in a certain address range) by increasing the number of memorysections accessed at one time. This may effectively increase the pagesize, which may be viewed as the row size of one memory sectionmultiplied by the number of interleaved memory sections. However, anon-interleaved memory system may provide higher bandwidth, sincedifferent transactions can be pipelined into the memory sections(although the latency of each individual transaction may be higher thanan interleaved system). Non-interleaving may allow for more pages (of asmaller size) than interleaved systems. If the different transactionsoccur to different pages, these transactions may be more likely to bepipelined into the non-interleaved system.

The various features implemented by memory controllers may attempt toprovide good memory performance (e.g. high bandwidth and/or lowlatency). However, the memory configuration which may deliver the bestmemory performance may be dependent on the application(s) being executedin a given system. The arrangement of data and instructions used by theapplication(s) in memory, as well as the pattern of memory transactionsperformed by the application, may differ from other applications, andthe memory configuration which provides the best memory performance maydiffer from that of other applications. For example, some applicationsmay benefit from an interleaved memory system providing lower latencyfor each access (e.g. if the memory transactions tend to be clustered incertain address ranges). On the other hand, other applications maybenefit from a non-interleaved system (e.g. applications having highnumbers of memory transactions, especially if consecutive memorytransactions tend to be to disparate addresses). Such applications maybenefit from the availability of other memory sections of thenon-interleaved configuration to perform the memory transactions.Furthermore, depending upon the arrangement of data in memory, theportions of the address of a memory transaction used to select a storagelocation in the memory corresponding to the address may affect theperformance of the memory system.

Unfortunately, memory controllers have generally been implemented with arelatively fixed configuration. Typically, address ranges may beassigned to each memory section, and certain memory features (such aspage mode) may be enabled or disabled. Otherwise, the configuration ofthe memory controller (and thus the mapping of addresses to storagelocations in the memory) is fixed. Thus, design decisions made whendesigning the memory controller largely determine the performance thatthe memory system may deliver for a particular application.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The problems outlined above are in large part solved by a memorycontroller as described herein. The memory controller providesprogrammable flexibility, via one or more configuration registers, forthe configuration of the memory. The memory may be optimized for a givenapplication by programming the configuration registers. For example, inone embodiment, the portion of the address of a memory transaction usedto select a storage location for access in response to the memorytransaction may be programmable. In an implementation designed for DRAM,a first portion may be programmably selected to form the row address anda second portion may be programmable selected to form the columnaddress. Additional embodiments may further include programmableselection of the portion of the address used to select a bank. Byallowing the row address, column address, and bank selection to beprogrammably selected from the address, the memory system may beoptimized by software for the expected memory access patterns. If memorytransactions, clustered relatively close in time, are expected totraverse through large blocks of memory, the bank selection may be drawnfrom more significant bits than the column selection, for example,allowing the memory transactions to experience an open page timing whileleaving other banks available for intervening memory transactions toother addresses.

Still further, interleave modes among memory sections assigned todifferent chip selects and among two or more channels to memory may beprogrammable, in some implementations. Furthermore, the portion of theaddress used to select between interleaved memory sections orinterleaved channels may be programmable. Having the interleave, or lackthereof, of memory sections or channels programmable may also providefor flexibility. For example, if accesses to certain address ranges areexpected to be accessed with multiple memory transactions clusteredclose in time, then those address ranges may be represented by two ormore interleaved memory sections or channels. Since pages may be open ineach of the interleaved memory sections, the interleaving may increasethe possibility of receiving transactions which access an open page. Onthe other hand, other address ranges may not be expected to be accessedwith multiple clustered memory transactions, and thus the correspondingmemory section or channels may be configured as non-interleaved. Thenon-interleaved memory sections or channels may have more open pages atdifferent addresses, allowing for different transactions to access anopen page.

One particular implementation may include all of the above programmablefeatures, which may provide a high degree of flexibility in optimizingthe memory system.

Broadly speaking, a memory controller is contemplated for coupling to amemory and for coupling to receive an address of a memory transaction.The memory controller includes one or more registers programmable withan indication of which portion of the address is used to select astorage location in the memory for access in response to the memorytransaction. Coupled to the one or more registers and coupled to receivethe address, a circuit is configured to extract the portion of theaddress for transmission to the memory responsive to the indication inthe one or more registers.

Additionally, a system is contemplated. The system comprises a memoryand a memory controller coupled thereto. The memory controller is alsocoupled to receive an address of a memory transaction. The memorycontroller is programmable with an indication of which portion of theaddress is used to select a storage location in the memory for access inresponse to the transaction, and is configured to extract the portion ofthe address for transmission to the memory responsive to the indication.

Moreover, a method is contemplated. A memory controller is programmedwith an indication of which portion of an address of a memorytransaction is used to select a storage location in a memory for accessin response to the memory transaction. The address of the memorytransaction is received in the memory controller. The portion of theaddress is extracted responsive to the indication.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent uponreading the following detailed description and upon reference to theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of a system including amemory controller.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the memory controllershown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of one embodiment of a channel control circuitshown in FIG. 2 and the channel to a block of memory.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the channel controlcircuit in more detail.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of chip selectgeneration.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example of various CSinterleave modes.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example of channelinterleaving.

FIG. 8 is a set of examples according to one embodiment of the memorycontroller.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of a carrier medium.

While the invention is susceptible to various modifications andalternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way ofexample in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. Itshould be understood, however, that the drawings and detaileddescription thereto are not intended to limit the invention to theparticular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is tocover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within thespirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appendedclaims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS System Overview

Turning now to FIG. 1, a block diagram of one embodiment of a system 10is shown. Other embodiments are possible and contemplated. In theembodiment of FIG. 1, system 10 includes processors 12A-12B, an L2 cache14, a memory controller 16, a pair of input/output (I/O) bridges20A-20B, and I/O interfaces 22A-22D. System 10 may include a bus 24 forinterconnecting the various components of system 10. As illustrated inFIG. 1, each of processors 12A-12B, L2 cache 14, memory controller 16,and I/O bridges 20A-20B are coupled to bus 24. Thus, each of processors12A-12B, L2 cache 14, memory controller 16, and I/O bridges 20A-20B maybe an agent on bus 24 for the illustrated embodiment. I/O bridge 20A iscoupled to I/O interfaces 22A-22B, and I/O bridge 20B is coupled to I/Ointerfaces 22C-22D. L2 cache 14 is coupled to memory controller 16,which is further coupled to a memory 26.

Processors 12A-12B may be designed to any instruction set architecture,and may execute programs written to that instruction set architecture.Exemplary instruction set architectures may include the MIPS instructionset architecture (including the MIPS-3D and MIPS MDMX applicationspecific extensions), the IA-32 or IA-64 instruction set architecturesdeveloped by Intel Corp., the PowerPC instruction set architecture, theAlpha instruction set architecture, the ARM instruction setarchitecture, or any other instruction set architecture. While system 10as shown in FIG. 1 includes two processors, other embodiments mayinclude one processor or more than two processors, as desired.

L2 cache 14 is a high speed cache memory. L2 cache 14 is referred to as“L2” since processors 12A-12B may employ internal level 1 (“L1”) caches.If L1 caches are not included in processors 12A-12B, L2 cache 14 may bean L1 cache. Furthermore, if multiple levels of caching are included inprocessors 12A-12B, L2 cache 14 may be an outer level cache than L2. L2cache 14 may employ any organization, including direct mapped, setassociative, and fully associative organizations. In one particularimplementation, L2 cache 14 may be a 512 kilobyte, 4 way set associativecache having 32 byte cache lines. A set associative cache is a cachearranged into multiple sets, each set comprising two or more entries. Aportion of the address (the “index”) is used to select one of the sets(i.e. each encoding of the index selects a different set). The entriesin the selected set are eligible to store the cache line accessed by theaddress. Each of the entries within the set is referred to as a “way” ofthe set. The portion of the address remaining after removing the index(and the offset within the cache line) is referred to as the “tag”, andis stored in each entry to identify the cache line in that entry. Thestored tags are compared to the corresponding tag portion of the addressof a memory transaction to determine if the memory transaction hits ormisses in the cache, and is used to select the way in which the hit isdetected (if a hit is detected).

Memory controller 16 is configured to access memory 26 in response tomemory transactions received on bus 24. Memory controller 16 receives ahit signal from L2 cache 14, and if a hit is detected in L2 cache 14 fora memory transaction, memory controller 16 does not respond to thatmemory transaction. Other embodiments may not include L2 cache 14 andmemory controller 16 may respond to each memory transaction. If a missis detected by L2 cache 14, or the memory transaction is non-cacheable,memory controller 16 may access memory 26 to perform the read or writeoperation. Memory controller 16 may be designed to access any of avariety of types of memory. For example, memory controller 16 may bedesigned for synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), and moreparticularly double data rate (DDR) SDRAM. Alternatively, memorycontroller 16 may be designed for DRAM, Rambus DRAM (RDRAM), SRAM, orany other suitable memory device.

I/O bridges 20A-20B link one or more I/O interfaces (e.g. I/O interfaces22A-22B for I/O bridge 20A and 110 interfaces 22C-22D for 110 bridge20B) to bus 24. I/O bridges 20A-20B may serve to reduce the electricalloading on bus 24 if more than one I/O interface 22A-22B is bridged bythat I/O bridge. Generally, I/O bridge 20A performs transactions on bus24 on behalf of I/O interfaces 22A-22B and relays transactions targetedat an I/O interface 22A-22B from bus 24 to that 110 interface 22A-22B.Similarly, I/O bridge 20B generally performs transactions on bus 24 onbehalf of 1/0 interfaces 22C-22D and relays transactions targeted at anI/O interface 22C-22D from bus 24 to that I/O interface 22C-22D. In oneimplementation, I/O bridge 20A may be a bridge to a PCI interface (e.g.I/O interface 22A) and to a Lightning Data Transport (LDT) I/O fabricdeveloped by Advanced Micro Devices, Inc (e.g. I/O interface 22B). OtherI/O interfaces may be bridged by I/O bridge 20B. Other implementationsmay bridge any combination of I/O interfaces using any combination ofI/O bridges. I/O interfaces 22A-22D may include one or more serialinterfaces, Personal Computer Memory Card International Association(PCMCIA) interfaces, Ethernet interfaces (e.g. media access controllevel interfaces), Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) interfaces,LDT interfaces, etc.

Bus 24 may be a split transaction bus, in one embodiment. Bus 24 mayemploy a distributed arbitration scheme, in one embodiment. In oneembodiment, bus 24 may be pipelined. Bus 24 may employ any suitablesignalling technique. For example, in one embodiment, differentialsignalling may be used for high speed signal transmission. Otherembodiments may employ any other signalling technique (e.g. TTL, CMOS,GTL, HSTL, etc.).

It is noted that system 10 (and more particularly processors 12A-12B, L2cache 14, memory controller 16, I/O interfaces 22A-22D, I/O bridges20A-20B and bus 24 may be integrated onto a single integrated circuit asa system on a chip configuration. In another configuration, memory 26may be integrated as well. Alternatively, one or more of the componentsmay be implemented as separate integrated circuits, or all componentsmay be separate integrated circuits, as desired. Any level ofintegration may be used.

It is noted that, while the illustrated embodiment employs a splittransaction bus with separate arbitration for the address and databuses, other embodiments may employ non-split transaction busesarbitrated with a single arbitration for address and data and/or a splittransaction bus in which the data bus is not explicitly arbitrated.Either a central arbitration scheme or a distributed arbitration schememay be used, according to design choice. Furthermore, bus 24 may not bepipelined, if desired.

It is noted that, while FIG. 1 illustrates I/O interfaces 22A-22Dcoupled through I/O bridges 20A-20B to bus 24, other embodiments mayinclude one or more I/O interfaces directly coupled to bus 24, ifdesired.

As used herein, the term “memory transaction” refers to a communicationbetween a device and the memory system. The memory transaction includesan address identifying a storage location in the memory. In theillustrated embodiment, the memory transaction is transmitted on bus 24to memory controller 16. However, other systems may use othercommunications media (e.g. packet based transmission, clock-forwardedlinks, point to point interconnect, etc.). Memory transactions mayinclude read transactions (a transfer of data from memory to the device)and write transactions (a transfer of data from the device to memory).

Memory Controller

Turning now to FIG. 2, a block diagram of one embodiment of memorycontroller 16 is shown. Other embodiments are possible and contemplated.In the embodiment of FIG. 2, memory controller 16 includes a transactionqueue 30 and a pair of channel control circuits 32A-32B. Transactionqueue 30 is coupled to receive memory transactions from bus 24, and iscoupled to channel control circuits 32A-32B. Channel control circuit 32Ais coupled to a first channel 34A and channel control circuit 32B iscoupled to a second channel 34B. Channel control circuit 32A includes aset of one or more configuration registers 36A, and channel controlcircuit 32B includes a set of one or more configuration registers 36B.

Generally, channel control circuits 32A-32B access memory attached tothe corresponding channel 34A-34B in response to memory transactionsprovided from transaction queue 30. Configuration registers 36A-36B areused to program the configuration of the memory system. Configurationregisters 36A-36B may be made visible to software so that theconfiguration may be programmed. For example, configuration registers36A-36B may be mapped to certain addresses within the addressable rangeprovided by bus 24 (“memory mapped”), and thus may be programmed byexecuting store instructions in processor 12A or 12B to the addressesmapped to the registers. Configuration registers 36A-36B may allow for ahigh degree of flexibility in configuring the memory, thus allowingoptimization of the memory system for the applications to be executed onsystem 10. Additional details regarding the configuration options of oneembodiment of memory controller 16 are provided in more detail below.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, memory controller 16 may employ multiplechannels. Other embodiments are contemplated employing more channels, aswell as embodiments having only a single channel. Each channel controlcircuit 32A-32B performs memory transactions mapped to the correspondingchannel. Additionally, each channel control circuit 32A-32B includes aset of configuration registers 36A-36B. Accordingly, the memory attachedto each channel may be configured differently. Additional flexibility inthe memory system configuration may be provided via the use of differentconfiguration registers for each channel.

In one embodiment, the two channels may be configurable as interleavedor not interleaved via configuration registers 36A-36B. Non-interleavedchannels may provide high bandwidth, as the two channels may beindependent of each other and thus may respond to memory transactions inparallel. Interleaved channels may increase the possibility of findingan open page if memory transactions are clustered in certain addressranges, thus decreasing the latency of the memory transactions.Embodiments employing more than two channels may interleave two or moreof the channels while having remaining channels non-interleaved, viaconfiguration registers 36A-36B and other configuration registers in theadditional channel control circuits.

Transaction queue 30 is configured to receive and queue memorytransactions from bus 24, and to issue those transactions to one ofchannel control circuits 32A-32B. Transaction queue 30 may have accessto at least the configuration registers 36A-36B that define whichaddresses are mapped to which memory channel, to select the channelcontrol circuit to which a given transaction is issued. Alternatively,transaction queue 30 may include one or more shadow registers storingindications which represent the addresses that are mapped to each memorychannel, or may include a separate set of programmable registers.Transaction queue 30 may also receive and queue the data for writetransactions, and provide that data to the corresponding channel controlcircuit 32A-32B for updating the memory. Transaction queue 30 mayreceive and queue data from the corresponding channel control circuit32A-32B for read transactions, and provide the data on bus 24 forconsumption by the device which initiated the memory transaction.

As used herein, the term “channel” refers to a communication path to amemory. The communication path may include the interface signals used tointerface to that memory, and is independent of other channels.

As used herein, the term “registers” refer to any clocked storagedevice. For example, registers may include clocked RAM cells, latches,flip flops, etc.

Turning next to FIG. 3, a block diagram of one embodiment of channelcontrol circuit 32A and channel 34A is shown. Other embodiments arepossible and contemplated. Channel 34B may be similar, in oneembodiment. The embodiment of FIG. 3 may be suitable for interfacing toSDRAM memory, such as one or more dual inline memory modules (DINMs)40A-40D. Each of DIMMs 40A-40D may be populated by one or more SDRAMchips (e.g. SDRAM chips 42A-42D illustrated on DIMM 40A). DIMMs 40A-40D(and optionally one or more DIMMs on channel 34B) may be one embodimentof memory 26 shown in FIG. 1.

Channel 34A as shown in FIG. 3 includes signals for interfacing to DIMMs40A-40D. More particularly, channel 34A includes a separate chip selectline carrying a chip select signal (CS0-CS3) for each DIMM 40A-40D. Thechip select signal may be asserted to select the corresponding DIMM4OA-40D to respond to a memory transaction. Mappings of address rangesto chip select signals may be programmed into configuration registers36A. While each chip select signal is connected to one DIMM 40A-40D, theremaining signals of memory channel 34A may be connected to each ofDIMMs 40A-40D.

Channel 34A includes a clock line or lines (CLK) for transmitting aclock signal to DIMMs 40A-40D. Memory channel 34A also includes datatransmission lines including lines for the data (e.g. 64 bits of data,in one embodiment), optional error checking and correction code (ECC)information corresponding to the data, and data strobe signalscorresponding to each byte of data and the ECC information. Row addressstrobe (RAS), column address strobe (CAS) and write enable signals areincluded as well. These signals are used to transmit commands to theDIMM 40A-40D selected using the chip select signals. More particularly,the commands may include an activate command to activate a row ofstorage locations in a bank. The activate command may include the rowaddress on the address bus (A[12:0]). One or more read or write commandsmay be issued to the active bank, and each read or write command mayinclude the column address being transmitted on the address bus. Othercommands may include a precharge command to close the active bank, aburst terminate command to terminate a burst of data starting at theidentified column, etc. Finally, channel 34A includes a bank selectsignals (BA[1:0]) used to select a bank within the SDRAMs within theselected DIMM 40A-40D. The bank may be transmitted with both the rowaddress and the column address.

While FIG. 3 illustrates one or more DIMMs forming the memory of achannel, other embodiments may form a channel from single inline memorymodules (SIMMs), individual RAM chips, etc. Additionally, a single DIMMmay receive more than one chip select signal, or multiple DIMMs, SIMMs,or individual RAM chips may share a chip select (and be coupled todifferent portions of the data bus).

As used herein, the term “row” refers to refers to a set of storagelocations in a DRAM. DRAMs are configured with multiple rows, and onerow is selected for a transaction by transmitting a row address to theDRAM (e.g. with an activate command on an SDRAM or an assertion of theRAS signal for a synchronous DRAM). The term “column” refers to astorage location within the set of storage locations in each row. Onecolumn is selected for a transaction by transmitting a column address tothe DRAM (e.g. with a read or write command on an SDRAM or the assertionof the CAS signal for asynchronous DRAM). Thus, DRAM memory is arrangedinto rows and columns of storage locations forming a two dimensionalarray of storage locations. A given storage location is selected using aparticular row address and a particular column address. The intersectionof that row and column within the two dimensional array is the storagelocation. The number of bits or bytes in the selected storage locationmay vary from embodiment to embodiment. Furthermore, multiple storagelocations may be accessed in parallel to provide one transfer on thedata lines between the memory and memory controller 16, and multipletransfers on the data lines (each affecting one or more storagelocations in the DRAM memory) may be performed to access all of the datacorresponding to a memory transaction.

Multiple reads and/or writes to various columns in the active row may beperformed without retransmitting the row address. Reads or writes whichare accomplished without retransmitting the row address are oftenreferred to as page mode accesses or referred to as hitting an openpage.

A given SDRAM may include multiple sets of rows and columns of storagelocations. The term “bank” refers to one set of rows and columns. Thebank is selected by transmitting the bank signals during the activateand read/write commands. Other memories besides SDRAMs may include banksof rows and columns as well.

Turning next to FIG. 4, a block diagram of one embodiment of channelcontrol circuit 32A is shown. Other embodiments are possible andcontemplated. Channel control circuit 32B may be similar. In theembodiment shown in FIG. 4, channel control circuit 32A includes a chipselect (CS) generator circuit 50, a row/column/bank extract circuit 52,and a memory interface control circuit 54. CS generator circuit 50 androw/column/bank extract circuit 52 are coupled to receive an address ofa memory transaction being issued to channel control circuit 32A fromtransaction queue 30 and are further coupled to memory interface controlcircuit 54 and to each other. Memory interface control circuit 54 isfurther coupled to channel 34A and to transaction queue 30. Asillustrated in FIG. 4, CS generator circuit 50 includes configurationregisters 36AA, 36AB, 36AC, and 36AD. Extract circuit 52 includesconfiguration registers 36AE, 36AF, 36AG, 36AH, 36AI, 36AJ, 36AK, 36AL,36AM, 36AN, 36AO, and 36AP. Memory interface control circuit 54 includesconfiguration register 36AQ. Configuration registers 36AA-36AQ may beincluded in one embodiment of configuration registers 36A.

Extract circuit 52 is configured to extract portions of the address of amemory transaction for locating a storage location in the memoryattached to channel 34A to be accessed in response to the memorytransaction. Extract circuit 52 provides the extracted portions tomemory interface control circuit 54 for use in communicating on channel34A. For example, the illustrated embodiment may be used for SDRAMmemory. Thus, portions of the address may be extracted to provide therow address, column address, and bank selection to the memory.

Via configuration registers 36AE-36AP, extract circuit 52 may beprogrammable to select which portions of the address are used for therow address, column address, and bank select. For example, in theillustrated embodiment, the portions of the address which are extractedas the row address, column address, and bank selection are separatelyprogrammable for each chip select signal supported by channel controlcircuit 52. Thus, configuration register 36AE is programmed with anindication of which portion of the address is extracted for the rowaddress if CS0 is the chip select signal corresponding to the address.Similarly, configuration registers 36AF-36AH are programmed withindications of which portion of the address is extracted for the rowaddress if CS1, CS2, or CS3 is the chip select signal corresponding tothe address, respectively. Configuration register 36AI is programmedwith an indication of which portion of the address is extracted for thecolumn address if CS0 is the chip select signal corresponding to theaddress. Similarly, configuration registers 36AJ-36AL are programmedwith indications of which portion of the address is extracted for therow address if CS1, CS2, or CS3 is the chip select for the address,respectively. Finally, configuration register 36AM is programmed with anindication of which portion of the address is extracted for the bankselect if CS0 is the chip select signal corresponding to the address.Similarly, configuration registers 36AN-36AP are programmed withindications of which portion of the address is extracted for the bankselect if CS1, CS2, or CS3 is the chip select signal corresponding tothe address, respectively.

Extract circuit 52 may receive an indication of which chip select signalcorresponds to the address of the memory transaction from CS generatorcircuit 50, and may extract the row address, column address, and bankselection from the address using the corresponding indications fromconfiguration registers 36AE-36AP. For example, in one embodiment, eachof configuration registers 36AE-36AP may store a bit mask having a bitassigned to each address bit. If the bit in the bit mask is set, thecorresponding address bit is extracted and used in the row address,column address, or bank selection. If the bit in the mask is clear, thecorresponding address bit is not extracted and used in the row address,column address, or bank selection. Alternatively, the bit in the bitmask being clear may indicate extraction of the corresponding addressbit and the bit in the bit mask being set may indicate lack ofextraction of the corresponding address bit.

In one particular implementation, each of the bit masks are required toidentify contiguous address bits for inclusion in the corresponding rowaddress, column address, or bank selection. The address bits used toform the row address need not be contiguous to the address bits used toform the column address or the bank selection, and the address bits usedto form the column address need not be contiguous to the address bitsused to form the row address or the bank selection. In such animplementation, extract circuit 52 may apply the bit mask to the addressto mask off the non-selected address bits. Additionally, extract circuit52 may right shift the masked address such that the least significant ofthe selected address bits is the least significant bit of the resultingvalue. The shifting and masking may be performed serially (in eitherorder) or in parallel.

As an alternative to bit masks, configuration registers 36AE-36AP may beprogrammed in other fashions to indicate the portions of the address tobe used as the row address, column address, and bank selection. Forexample, embodiments which require that contiguous address bits form agiven row address, column address, or bank selection may be programmedwith numbers indicating the least significant bit and most significantbit of the row address, column address, or bank selection. In yetanother alternative, a number indicative of either the least significantbit or most significant bit and a bit mask selecting the number ofaddress bits used by the corresponding memory may be programmed intoconfiguration registers 36AE-36AP, as desired.

In another implementation, each of the bit masks are required toidentify contiguous address bits for inclusion in the corresponding rowaddress or bank selection. The address bits used to form the row addressneed not be contiguous to the address bits used to form the columnaddress or the bank selection, and the address bits used to form thecolumn address need not be contiguous to the address bits used to formthe row address or the bank selection. As to the column address, the bitmask may be required to have two contiguous sections, with a gap of oneor more bits between the sections. In one specific implementation, oneof the sections may comprise bit 5 or bits 5 and 6 of the address (wherethe least significant address bit is referred to as bit 0 of theaddress) and the other section may comprise more significant bits. Suchan implementation may allow for memory transactions to consecutive cachelines (for which address bits may vary in bit 5, or bits 5 and 6, onlyand thus may have the same row address and bank selection, but differentcolumn addresses) to be more likely to hit an open page in the memory,thus reducing the overall latency of the memory transactions. Suchmemory transactions may occur if a device frequently access blocks ofmemory which are larger than a cache line. The address bits between theaddress bits in the first section and the second section of the columnaddress may be used for bank selection, for interleave selection amongthe memory sections assigned to different chip select signals (describedin more detail below), for interleave selection between the channels(described in more detail below), etc.

CS generator circuit 50 is configured to generate the chip selectsignals for each memory transaction. The generated chip select signalsare provided to memory interface control circuit 54 for transmission onchannel 34A and to row/column/bank extract circuit 52. Moreparticularly, CS generator circuit 50 is programmable, via configurationregisters 36AA-36AD, to generate chip select signals. Configurationregister 36AC is programmed with an indication of the starting addressof a range of addresses mapped to each chip select, using respectivefields CS1_Start, CS1_Start, CS2_Start, and CS3_Start as illustrated inFIG. 4. More particularly, in one embodiment, the most significant bitsof the starting address may be programmed into the corresponding startfield. The number of most significant bits provided in each field may bedetermined based on the minimum memory size which is supported for eachchip select signal. For example, if the minimum supported memory size ona given chip select signal were 16 Megabytes, address bits moresignificant than bit 23 (where bit 0 is the least significant addressbit) would be included in each field. Similarly, configuration register36AD is programmed with an indication of the ending address of the rangeof addresses using respective fields CS0_End, CS1_End, CS2_End, andCS3_End as illustrated in FIG. 4. More particularly, in one embodiment,the most significant bits of the ending address plus 1 may be programmedinto the corresponding end field. Thus, a given chip select signal maybe decoded (subject to certain options described below) for an addressif the most significant bits of the address are greater than or equal tothe most significant bits of the start address for that given chipselect signal and less than the most significant bits of the end addressfor that given chip select signal.

Additional flexibility in memory configuration may be provided viaconfiguration registers 36AA and 36AB. Configuration register 36ABincludes a CS mode field which may be programmed with various modeoptions for the chip select signals managed by channel control circuit32A. For example, in one embodiment, portions of memory corresponding totwo or more chip select signals may be interleaved while other portionsare not interleaved. To interleave the memory corresponding to two chipselect signals, the corresponding start and end addresses inconfiguration registers 36AC-36AD may be programmed to the same values(e.g. an address range large enough to cover the amount of memoryassigned to both chip select signals), and an indication that the twochip select signals are interleaved may be programmed into the CS modefield of configuration register 36AB. In one implementation, channelcontrol circuit 32A may provide for any of the following interleaveoptions via encodings in the CS mode field: (i) no interleave; (ii) CS0and CS1 memory sections interleaved, CS2 and CS3 memory sections notinterleaved; (iii) CS1 and CS2 memory sections interleaved, CS0 and CS3memory sections not interleaved; (iv) CS2 and CS3 memory sectionsinterleaved, CS0 and CS1 memory sections not interleaved; (v) CS0, CS1,CS2, and CS3 memory sections interleaved. For example, in oneembodiment, the CS mode field may comprise a four bit value, each bitassigned to one of the chip select signals. If the assigned bit is set,the memory section corresponding to that chip select signal isinterleaved with the memory sections corresponding to other chip selectsignals for which the assigned bit in the CS mode field is also set. Ifthe assigned bit is clear, the memory section corresponding to that chipselect signal is not interleaved.

If the memory sections corresponding to two or more chip select signalsare interleaved, configuration register 36AA may be programmed with anindication of which portion of the address is used to select between theinterleaved memory sections. For example, configuration register 36AAmay store a bit mask having set bits (or alternatively clear bits) forthe bit or bits which identify which interleaved memory section isselected in response to an address, similar to the row, column, and bankselect bit masks. Alternatively, bit numbers may be programmed intoconfiguration register 36AA. For example, if memory sectionscorresponding to two chip select signals are interleaved, one bit of theaddress may be used to select the corresponding memory section and thusthe chip select signal to activate. If memory sections corresponding tofour chip select signals are interleaved, two bits of the address may beused to select the corresponding memory section and thus the chip selectsignal to activate.

In one embodiment, if the memory sections corresponding to two or morechip selects are interleaved, the other configuration parameters may beset the same (e.g. row, column, and bank configurations in configurationregisters 36AE-36AP may be set the same).

Channel control circuit 32A and more particularly CS generator circuit50 may support channel interleaving as well. The Channel_Sel field ofconfiguration register 36AB may store an indication of whether or notthe channels are interleaved and an indication of the portion of theaddress used to select between the interleaved channels. In oneembodiment in which memory controller 16 includes two channels, theChannel_Sel field may be a number which, if zero, indicates no channelinterleave and, if non zero, indicates channel interleave and also isthe bit number of the address which selects between the channels. Otherembodiments may have more than two channels which may be interleaved,and the Channel_Sel field may be similar to the row indication inconfiguration register 36AE. Still further, the Channel_Sel field maycomprise an indication of channel interleaving and a separate value(e.g. bit mask or bit numbers). If the channels are interleaved, othermemory parameters may be set the same between the two channels (e.g. theremainder of configuration registers 36AA-36AQ and correspondingregisters in configuration registers 36B may be set the same). FIG. 5below is a flowchart illustrating chip select generation in more detail.

Memory interface control circuit 54 generally is configured to sequencecommands on channel 34A to perform the desired memory transaction. Thus,memory interface control circuit 54 may receive additional transactioninformation from transaction queue 30, such as the size of thetransaction, the read/write nature of the transaction, etc. Memoryinterface control circuit 54 may comprise a queue of in-progresstransactions, with a scoreboard of commands to be sequenced at varioustimes (e.g. measured on a clock cycle basis). The scoreboard may beshifted each clock cycle, and commands performed based on the state ofthe scoreboard.

Memory interface control circuit 54 may determine whether or not toclose an active page after a transaction is complete. Memory interfacecontrol circuit 54 may be programmable, via configuration register 36AQ,with a page mode policy for the memory section corresponding each chipselect signal. In one embodiment, the available page mode policies mayinclude a close page policy in which the page is closed at the end ofeach transaction or a CAS time check policy in which transaction queue30 is checked as the read or write command for a transaction is beingissued on memory channel 34A. If other transactions to the same page arein transaction queue 30, the page may be kept open. Otherwise, the pagemay be closed. In yet another embodiment, the page mode policy may bebased on a hint in the transaction. The page mode policy may beprogrammed differently for the memory corresponding to each of the chipselects, and thus configuration register 36AQ may include page modepolicy fields CS0_PM, CS1_PM, CS2_PM, and CS3_PM for chip selectsCS0-CS3, respectively.

As the above discussion illustrates, memory controller 16 may providefor a large amount of flexibility in configuring the memory to whichmemory controller 16 is coupled. For example, by allowing the rowaddress, column address, and bank selection to be programmably selectedfrom the address, the memory system may be optimized by software for theexpected memory access patterns. If memory transactions, clusteredrelatively close in time, are expected to traverse through large blocksof memory, the bank selection may be drawn from more significant bitsthan the column selection, for example, allowing the memory transactionsto experience an open page timing while leaving other banks availablefor intervening memory transactions to other addresses.

Having the interleave, or lack thereof, of memory sections correspondingto different chip select signals or channels programmable also providesfor flexibility. For example, if accesses to certain address ranges areexpected to be accessed with multiple memory transactions clusteredclose in time, then those address ranges may be represented by two ormore interleaved memory sections corresponding to two or moreinterleaved chip select signals. Since pages may be open in the memorycorresponding to each of the interleaved chip select signals, theinterleaving may increase the possibility of receiving transactionswhich access an open page. On the other hand, other address ranges maynot be expected to be accessed with multiple clustered memorytransactions, and thus the corresponding memory may be configured asnon-interleaved. The non-interleaved memory sections may have more openpages at different addresses, allowing for different transactions toaccess an open page. Similarly, interleaving channels may furtherincrease the number of open pages in the affected memory range. On theother hand, higher memory bandwidth may be achieved by not interleavingthe channels. Accordingly, software may optimize the configuration ofmemory based on the expected memory access pattern.

It is noted that, while the above discussion of FIG. 4 has described anembodiment for interfacing to SDRAM, other embodiments may interface toasynchronous DRAM, non-banked DRAM (including only row address andcolumn address but no bank selection), SRAM, etc. Any suitable type ofmemory may be interfaced, and the configurability of memory controller16 may be modified accordingly. Generally, some embodiments of memorycontroller 16 may be programmed to select at least one portion of theaddress for selecting a memory location in the memory usingconfiguration registers 36A-36B.

It is noted that, while the illustrated embodiment provides forprogrammability of row address, column address, bank selection, and pagemode policy on a chip select granularity, other embodiments may providefor programmability of one or more of these attributes at the channelgranularity instead, in other embodiments.

It is noted that, while one implementation above includes a requirementthat the various bit masks (e.g. row address bit mask, column addressbit mask, etc.) select contiguous address bits for inclusion in thecorresponding value, other embodiments may allow any random set ofaddress bits to be selected.

It is noted that, while FIG. 4 illustrates a specific allocation ofvalues to certain configuration registers 36AA-36AQ, the informationstored may be rearranged into any combination of registers according todesign choice. It is further noted that, while the illustratedembodiment supports 4 chip select signals, other embodiments may supportany number of chip select signals, according to design choice.

It is still further noted that, while the embodiment of FIG. 4 providesfor programmability of a variety of memory system features, otherembodiments may employ any subset of the programmability, as desired.For example, chip select interleave could be programmable while rowaddress, column address, and bank selection could be fixed based onmemory size. Alternatively, chip select interleave might not beprogrammable (and might be interleaved, partially interleaved, or notinterleaved), but row address, column address, and bank selection may beprogrammable.

It is noted that, while CS generator circuit 50, extract circuit 52, andmemory interface control circuit 54 are shown as separate circuits inFIG. 4 for ease of understanding the programmability of memorycontroller 16, these circuits may be integrated together inimplementation, if desired.

As used herein, the term “bit mask” refers to a binary value in whicheach bit corresponds to one or more bits of a first value to be maskedby the bit mask. The bit being in one state (set or clear) may indicatea masking off of the one or more bits of the first value in the maskingoperation, while the bit being in the other state may indicate passingthrough of the one or more bits of the first value in the maskingoperation.

As used herein, the term “memory section” refers to a one or more memorycircuits which are treated as a unit by memory controller 16. Thus, thememory circuits which receive a particular chip select signal may be amemory section, in one example. The memory circuits on one channel ofmemory controller 16 may be a memory section, in another example.Generally, a memory circuit may be any type of memory circuit, includingDIMMs, SIMMs, memory chips directly mounted on a circuit board to whichmemory controller 16 (or system 10) is mounted, etc. The memory circuitsmay be SDRAM, DRAM, or any other form of memory, as desired.

As used herein, two or more memory sections are “interleaved” if anaddress region is mapped to the combination of the memory sections andthe address range is divided into blocks, where the number of blocks isat least twice the number of memory sections. The blocks are alternatelymapped to each of the interleaved memory sections. The number of blocksmay be dependent on which address bit or bits is used to select betweenthe interleaved portions as compared to the bits used to form the rowaddress, column address, etc.

As used herein, the term “page mode policy” refers to the policy used todetermine whether or not to keep a page accessed by a memory transactionopen after the transaction is performed. Generally, a page refers to theamount of memory made accessible by presenting one row address to thememory (e.g. via an activate command in an SDRAM or via assertion of theRAS signal in an asynchronous DRAM). A page is open if the row addresshas been transmitted and the page has not been closed (e.g. with aprecharge command or via autoprecharge in an SDRAM or by deassertion ofthe RAS signal in an asynchronous DRAM). Accesses to an open pagepresent the column address to the memory, but need not perform the rowaddress transfer, and thus may be performed with lower latency than ifthe row address were to be presented as well.

Turning next to FIG. 5, a flowchart is shown illustrating generation ofchip select signals for channel control circuit 32A according to oneembodiment of memory controller 16. Other embodiments are possible andcontemplated. While the blocks shown in FIG. 5 are illustrated in aparticular order for ease of understanding, any suitable order may beused. Furthermore, blocks may be performed in parallel in combinatoriallogic circuitry within memory controller 16.

Memory controller 16 determines if channel interleaving is programmedinto configuration registers 36A-36B (decision block 60). Moreparticularly, memory controller 16 may examine the Channel_Sel field ofconfiguration register 36AB. If channel interleaving is selected, memorycontroller 16 further determines if the address bit used to selectbetween the interleaved channels is clear (decision block 62). If theaddress bit is not clear, the memory transaction is mapped to channelcontrol circuit 32B and thus no chip selects in channel control circuit32A are generated.

On the other hand, if channel interleaving is not programmed intoconfiguration registers 36A-36B or the address bit used to selectbetween the interleaved channels is clear, then channel control circuit32A may handle the memory transaction. The address of the memorytransaction is compared to the CS address ranges programmed intoconfiguration registers 36AC-36AD (block 64). Memory controller 16determines if one or more of the CS ranges include the address of thememory transaction (decision block 66). If none of the CS rangesencompasses the address, then channel control circuit 32A does nothandle the memory transaction. On the other hand, if at least one CSrange encompasses the address, then channel control circuit 32A doeshandle the memory transaction.

Memory controller 16 determines if the CS mode is interleaved for the CSrange(s) encompassing the address of the memory transaction (decisionblock 68). If the CS mode is interleaved, then the CS interleaveindication in configuration registers 36AA specifies which chip selectsignal to activate for the memory transaction (block 70). If the CS modeis not interleaved, then the CS range which encompasses the addressidentifies which chip select signal to activate (block 72).

It is noted that a similar flowchart may be applicable to channelcontrol circuit 32B, except that decision block 62 checks that theaddress bit used to select between the interleaved channels is set.Other embodiments having more than two channels which may be interleavedmay use more than one bit, similar to the CS interleaving.

It is noted that the circuitry performing the flowchart of FIG. 5 may bepartially CS generator circuit 50 circuitry and partially transactionqueue 30 circuitry. For example, in one embodiment transaction queue 30issues a memory transaction to the correct channel control circuit32A-32B based on configuration registers 36A-36B. In such an embodiment,all of the flowchart in FIG. 5 could be implemented in transaction queue30 and transaction queue 30 may send an indication of the appropriatechip select signal to that channel control circuit 32A-32B. CS generatorcircuit 50 may be eliminated in such an embodiment. Alternatively, forexample, transaction queue 30 could perform blocks 60, 62, 64, and 66 todetermine which of channel control circuits 32A-32B to issue the memorytransaction to. CS generator circuit 50 may the perform blocks 64, 68,70, and 72. In yet another alternative, transaction queue 30 maybroadcast a transaction to both channel control circuits 32A-32B. Insuch an embodiment, CS generator circuit 50 may perform all of theflowchart in FIG. 5.

Turning next to FIG. 6, several examples of programmable CS interleavingmodes are shown. For each of the examples in FIG. 6, channelinterleaving is not selected.

The first example 80 illustrates a CS interleaving mode of nointerleaving. Thus, the channel 0 memory 82 is divided into 4 separateCS regions 84A-84D. The CS regions may be of varying sizes. Asillustrated via the arrows pointing to the channel 0 memory 82, theCS_Start for each CS is programmed to the lower end of the range mappedto that CS and the CS_End is programmed to the upper end of that range(and thus may be equal to the CS_Start of the next CS). Also illustratedin example 80 is that the CS regions need not follow the numbering ofthe CS signals. For example, the CS range corresponding to CS2 isassigned to lower addresses than the CS range corresponding to CS1. Anyorder of CS range assignments may be made, as desired.

The second example 90 illustrates a CS interleaving mode of mixed modeinterleaving. Mixed mode CS interleaving refers to the situation inwhich two or more memory sections corresponding to two or more CSsignals are interleaved while other memory sections corresponding toother CS signals are not interleaved. In example 90, CS0 and CS1 areinterleaved and CS2 and CS3 are not interleaved. Thus, the channel 0memory 92 is divided into three CS regions 94A-94C. Like example 82,regions 94A-94B each correspond to a CS (CS3 and CS2, respectively) andthe corresponding start and end address fields are programmed asillustrated. On the other hand, region 94C corresponds to both CS1 andCS0, and thus the start and end address fields for CS1 and CS0 are bothprogrammed to represent region 94C. Additionally, an address bit isdefined (in configuration register 36AA) to determine the interleave ofthe CS0 and CS1 regions. Thus region 94C is divided into subregions(e.g. subregions 96A-96B). The subregions are alternately assigned toCS0 and CS1.

The third example 100 illustrates a CS interleaving mode of fullinterleaving, in which all memory sections corresponding to all CSsignals are interleaved. Thus, channel 0 memory 102 is a single region.The CS start and end fields are all programmed to represent theaddresses of the full memory size. Additionally, two address bits aredefined (in configuration register 36AA) to determine the interleave ofthe CS0, CS1, CS2, and CS3 regions. Memory 102 is divided into multiplesubregions (e.g. subregions 104A-104D). The subregions are alternatelyassigned to CS0, CS1, CS2, and CS3 as shown.

Turning now to FIG. 7, an example of channel interleaving is shown. Inthe example, no CS interleaving is programmed although CS interleavingcan be programmed as well, if desired. Additionally, FIG. 7 illustratesan example in which the address bit used to select between the channelsis a less significant address bit than the address bits which determinethe CS regions. Accordingly, the memory 110 is divided into fourseparate CS regions 112A-112D. Each CS region is divided into subregions(e.g. subregions 114A and 114B in CS region 112D). The subregions arealternately assigned to channel zero and channel one (Ch0 and Ch1 inFIG. 7).

Turning next to FIG. 8, several examples of row address, column address,and bank address configurations are shown. More particularly, exemplaryvalues for various configuration registers are illustrated in FIG. 8.The exemplary values are illustrated for an embodiment which uses bitmasks to define the portion of the address used for the row address,column address, and bank selection. The examples of FIG. 8 correspond to40 bit addresses of memory transactions. Other embodiments may have moreor fewer address bits, as desired. The least significant bits are on theright in FIG. 8. Additionally, the bit masks are divided (viaunderscores) into 8 bit portions in FIG. 8 to ease viewing. Theunderscores are not actually stored in the corresponding configurationregisters.

The first example 120 illustrates a configuration for a 512 Megabyte(MB) CS0 region in which the memory has 4096 rows (4K) and 1024 columns(1K). Thus, the row address comprises 12 bits and the column addresscomprises 10 bits. Additionally, the CS0 region may include four banksand thus the bank selection includes two bits. The contents ofconfiguration registers 36AE, 36AI, and 36AM are illustrated in firstexample 120. In first example 120, the bank selection is programmed toselect from less significant bits of the address than the column addressis selected from, and the column address is selected from lesssignificant bits than the row address is selected from. Moreparticularly, if the least significant bit of the address is referred toas bit 0, address bits 5 and 6 are used to form the bank selection giventhe contents of configuration register 36AM in this example. Similarly,address bits 7-16 are used to form the column address given the contentsof configuration register 36AI in this example and address bits 17-28are used to form the row address given the contents of configurationregister 36AE in this example.

A second example 122 is shown having the same CS0 region (512 MB, 4Kroses, 1K columns). The contents of configuration registers 36AE, 36AI,and 36AM are illustrated in second example 122 as well. However, in thesecond example 122, the bank selection is programmed to select from moresignificant bits than the column address is selected from, but lesssignificant bits than the row address is selected from. Moreparticularly, if the least significant bit of the address is referred toas bit 0, address bits 15 and 16 are used to form the bank selectiongiven the contents of configuration register 36AM in this example.Similarly, address bits 5-14 are used to form the column address giventhe contents of configuration register 36AI in this example and addressbits 17-28 are used to form the row address given the contents ofconfiguration register 36AE in this example.

A third example 124 is shown having the same CS0 region (512 MB, 4Kroses, 1K columns). The contents of configuration registers 36AE, 36AI,and 36AM are illustrated in the third example 124 as well. However, inthe third example 124, the column address bit mask includes a gap largeenough for the bank selection mask to select bits. Thus, the columnaddress is selected from bits 5 and 8 to 16 (where bit 0 is the leastsignificant bit) of the address of the memory transaction and the bankselection is selected from bits 6 and 7 of the address of the memorytransaction. It is noted that, if CS interleaving or channelinterleaving were used with CS0, additional bits could be included inthe gap in the column address bit mask and the bits which determinewhich interleaved CS or channel is selected can be bits within the gapas well.

Examples 120-124 illustrate some of the flexibility available inconfiguring the memory by configuring the selection of row address,column address, and bank selection. In the configuration of the example120, the bank selection is selected from the least significant bits outof the row address, column address, and bank selection. Thus, if a setof consecutive memory accesses accessed contiguous cache lines (whichare 32 bytes in the illustrated embodiment), the bank selection wouldchange each time before the column address changes. Thus, at least a fewof the set of consecutive memory transactions might not encounter anopen page, but subsequent transactions of the set might encounter openpages in each bank. On the other hand, the configuration of example 122may provide an open page for up to 1K contiguous cache lines, all in thesame bank. The pages open in other banks may not be affected by the setof consecutive memory transactions. Example 124 would provide an openpage for the next consecutive cache line, and then the bank selectionwould switch. Each example may have advantages for different memoryaccess patterns, and thus may be used based on the expected memoryaccess patterns to CS0.

A fourth example 126 is shown in FIG. 8 as well. The fourth example is a1024 MB (1 Gigabyte) CS0 and CS1 interleaved region, where each of theinterleaved memory sections is 512 MB with 4K rows and 1K columns. Thus,in example 126 the contents of configuration registers 36AA, 36AE-36AF,36AI-36AJ, and 36AM-36AN are shown. In the example configurationregisters 36AE and 36AF are programmed to the same values, as areconfiguration registers 36AI and 36AJ and configuration registers 36AMand 36AN. More particularly, the configuration registers are programmedsuch that the bank is selected from less significant address bits thanthe column address is selected from, and the column address is selectedfrom less significant address bits than the row address is selectedfrom. However, there is a gap between the address bits selected for therow address and the address bits selected for the column address. Thegap is the bit selected, in configuration register 36AA, to be theaddress bit which selects between CS0 and CS1. Other examples arepossible as well, including examples similar to example 122 and example124. Furthermore, the address bit which selects between CS0 and CS1could be between the address bits selected for the column address andthe address bits selected for the bank selection, or a less significantaddress bit than the bank selection, etc.

Turning next to FIG. 9, a block diagram of a carrier medium 300including a database representative of system 10 is shown. Generallyspeaking, a carrier medium may include storage media such as magnetic oroptical media, e.g., disk or CD-ROM, volatile or non-volatile memorymedia such as RAM (e.g. SDRAM, RDRAM, SRAM, etc.), ROM, etc., as well astransmission media or signals such as electrical, electromagnetic, ordigital signals, conveyed via a communication medium such as a networkand/or a wireless link.

Generally, the database of system 10 carried on carrier medium 300 maybe a database which can be read by a program and used, directly orindirectly, to fabricate the hardware comprising system 10. For example,the database may be a behavioral-level description or register-transferlevel (RTL) description of the hardware functionality in a high leveldesign language (HDL) such as Verilog or VHDL. The description may beread by a synthesis tool which may synthesize the description to producea netlist comprising a list of gates from a synthesis library. Thenetlist comprises a set of gates which also represent the functionalityof the hardware comprising system 10. The netlist may then be placed androuted to produce a data set describing geometric shapes to be appliedto masks. The masks may then be used in various semiconductorfabrication steps to produce a semiconductor circuit or circuitscorresponding to system 10. Alternatively, the database on carriermedium 300 may be the netlist (with or without the synthesis library) orthe data set, as desired.

While carrier medium 300 carries a representation of system 10, otherembodiments may carry a representation of any portion of system 10, asdesired, including any combination of a memory controller, channelcontrol circuit, configuration registers, memory, etc.

Numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to thoseskilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated. It isintended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace all suchvariations and modifications.

What is claimed is:
 1. A memory controller for coupling to a memoryarranged into rows and columns of storage locations and for coupling toreceive an address of a memory transaction, the memory controllercomprising: one or more registers programmable with a first indicationidentifying a first portion of said address used to select one of saidrows for access in response to said memory transaction, and a secondindication identifying a second portion of said address used to selectone of said columns for access in response to said memory transaction;and a circuit coupled to said one or more registers and coupled toreceive said address, wherein said circuit is configured to extract saidfirst portion and said second portion of said address for transmissionto said memory responsive to said first indication and said secondindication in said one or more registers.
 2. The memory controller asrecited in claim 1 wherein said memory controller is configured totransmit said first portion to said memory separate from said secondportion.
 3. The memory controller as recited in claim 2 wherein saidmemory controller is configured to transmit said first portion to saidmemory at a different time than said second portion.
 4. The memorycontroller as recited in claim 1 wherein said first indication includesa first bit mask, wherein each bit of said first bit mask corresponds toat least one bit of said address, and wherein said circuit is configuredto selectively include a first bit of said address in said first portionresponsive to a corresponding bit of said first bit mask.
 5. The memorycontroller as recited in claim 4 wherein said second indication includesa second bit mask, wherein each bit of said second bit mask correspondsto at least one bit of said address, and wherein said circuit isconfigured to selectively include a second bit of said address in saidsecond portion responsive to a corresponding bit of said second bitmask.
 6. The memory controller as recited in claim 1 wherein said firstindication includes a first bit mask, wherein each bit of said first bitmask corresponds to a bit of said address, and wherein said circuit isconfigured to selectively include a first bit of said address in saidfirst portion responsive to a corresponding bit of said first bit mask.7. The memory controller as recited in claim 6 wherein said secondindication includes a second bit mask, wherein each bit of said secondbit mask corresponds to a bit of said address, and wherein said circuitis configured to selectively include a second bit of said address insaid second portion responsive to a corresponding bit of said second bitmask.
 8. The memory controller as recited in claim 1 wherein said memoryis further arranged into banks, and wherein said one or more registersare further programmable with a third indication identifying a thirdportion of said address used to select one of said banks.
 9. The memorycontroller as recited in claim 8 wherein said memory controller isconfigured to transmit said third portion separate from said firstportion and said second portion.
 10. The memory controller as recited inclaim 8 wherein said third indication comprises a third bit mask,wherein each bit of said third bit mask corresponds to at least one bitof said address, and wherein said circuit is configured to selectivelyinclude a third bit of said address in said third portion responsive toa corresponding bit of said third bit mask.
 11. The memory controller asrecited in claim 8 wherein said third indication comprises a third bitmask, wherein each bit of said third bit mask corresponds to a bit ofsaid address, and wherein said circuit is configured to selectivelyinclude a third bit of said address in said third portion responsive toa corresponding bit of said third bit mask.
 12. The memory controller asrecited in claim 1 wherein said memory is arranged into two or morememory sections, and wherein said memory controller is configured toprovide a different select signal to each of said memory sections toselect said memory sections to respond to said memory transaction, andwherein said one or more registers are further programmable with aninterleave mode for said memory sections.
 13. The memory controller asrecited in claim 12 wherein said interleave mode is no interleave. 14.The memory controller as recited in claim 12 wherein said interleavemode is interleave of a subset of said memory sections and no interleaveof remaining ones of said memory sections.
 15. The memory controller asrecited in claim 12 wherein said interleave mode is interleave of saidmemory sections.
 16. The memory controller as recited in claim 12wherein said one or more registers are further programmable with afourth indication identifying a fourth portion of said address which isused to select one of said interleaved memory sections.
 17. The memorycontroller as recited in claim 16 wherein said fourth indicationcomprises a fourth bit mask, wherein each bit of said fourth bit maskcorresponds to at least one bit of said address, and wherein saidcircuit is configured to selectively include a fourth bit of saidaddress in said fourth portion responsive to a corresponding bit of saidfourth bit mask.
 18. The memory controller as recited in claim 16wherein said fourth indication comprises a fourth bit mask, wherein eachbit of said fourth bit mask corresponds to a bit of said address, andwherein said circuit is configured to selectively include a fourth bitof said address in said fourth portion responsive to a corresponding bitof said fourth bit mask.
 19. The memory controller as recited in claim 1wherein said memory is arranged in two or more independent memorysections, and wherein said memory controller is configured to provide aseparate channel to each of said memory sections, and wherein said oneor more registers are further programmable with a channel interleaveindication indicating whether or not one or more of said channels areinterleaved.
 20. The memory controller as recited in claim 19 whereinsaid channel interleave indication further indicates a fifth portion ofsaid address used to select one of said channels if one or more of saidchannels are interleaved.
 21. A system comprising: a memory arrangedinto rows and columns of storage locations; and a memory controllercoupled to said memory and to receive an address of a memorytransaction, the memory controller programmable with a first indicationidentifying a first portion of said address used to select one of saidrows for access in response to said memory transaction, and wherein thememory controller is further programmable with a second indicationidentifying a second portion of said address used to select one of saidcolumns for access in response to said memory transaction, and whereinsaid memory controller is configured to extract said first portion andsaid second portion of said address for transmission to said memoryresponsive to said first indication and said second indication.
 22. Thesystem as recited in claim 21 wherein said memory controller isconfigured to transmit said first portion to said memory separate fromsaid second portion.
 23. The system as recited in claim 22 wherein saidmemory controller is configured to transmit said first portion to saidmemory at a different time than said second portion.
 24. The system asrecited in claim 21 wherein said first indication includes a first bitmask, wherein each bit of said first bit mask corresponds to at leastone bit of said address, and wherein said memory controller isconfigured to selectively include a first bit of said address in saidfirst portion responsive to a corresponding bit of said first bit mask.25. The system as recited in claim 24 wherein said second indicationincludes a second bit mask, wherein each bit of said second bit maskcorresponds to at least one bit of said address, and wherein said memorycontroller is configured to selectively include a second bit of saidaddress in said second portion responsive to a corresponding bit of saidsecond bit mask.
 26. The system as recited in claim 21 wherein saidfirst indication includes a first bit mask, wherein each bit of saidfirst bit mask corresponds to a bit of said address, and wherein saidmemory controller is configured to selectively include a first bit ofsaid address in said first portion responsive to a corresponding bit ofsaid first bit mask.
 27. The system as recited in claim 26 wherein saidsecond indication includes a second bit mask, wherein each bit of saidsecond bit mask corresponds to a bit of said address, and wherein saidmemory controller is configured to selectively include a second bit ofsaid address in said second portion responsive to a corresponding bit ofsaid second bit mask.
 28. The system as recited in claim 21 wherein saidmemory is further arranged into banks, and wherein said memorycontroller is further programmable with a third indication identifying athird portion of said address used to select one of said banks.
 29. Thesystem as recited in claim 28 wherein said memory controller isconfigured to transmit said third portion to said memory separate fromsaid first portion and said second portion.
 30. The system as recited inclaim 28 wherein said third indication comprises a third bit mask,wherein each bit of said third bit mask corresponds to at least one bitof said address, and wherein said memory controller is configured toselectively include a third bit of said address in said third portionresponsive to a corresponding bit of said third bit mask.
 31. The systemas recited in claim 28 wherein said third indication comprises a thirdbit mask, wherein each bit of said third bit mask corresponds to a bitof said address, and wherein said memory controller is configured toselectively include a third bit of said address in said third portionresponsive to a corresponding bit of said third bit mask.
 32. The systemas recited in claim 21 wherein said memory is arranged into two or morememory sections, and wherein said memory controller is configured toprovide a different select signal to each of said memory sections toselect said memory section to respond to said memory transaction, andwherein said memory controller is further programmable with aninterleave mode for said memory sections.
 33. The system as recited inclaim 32 wherein said interleave mode is no interleave.
 34. The systemas recited in claim 32 wherein said interleave mode is interleave of asubset of said memory sections and no interleave of remaining ones ofsaid memory section.
 35. The system as recited in claim 32 wherein saidinterleave mode is interleave of said memory sections.
 36. The system asrecited in claim 32 wherein said memory controller is furtherprogrammable with a fourth indication identifying a fourth portion ofsaid address which is used to select one of said interleaved memorysections.
 37. The system as recited in claim 36 wherein said fourthindication comprises a fourth bit mask, wherein each bit of said fourthbit mask corresponds to at least one bit of said address, and whereinsaid memory controller is configured to selectively include a fourth bitof said address in said fourth portion responsive to a corresponding bitof said fourth bit mask.
 38. The system as recited in claim 36 whereinsaid fourth indication comprises a fourth bit mask, wherein each bit ofsaid fourth bit mask corresponds to a bit of said address, and whereinsaid memory controller is configured to selectively include a fourth bitof said address in said fourth portion responsive to a corresponding bitof said fourth bit mask.
 39. The system as recited in claim 21 whereinsaid memory is arranged in two or more independent memory sections, andwherein said memory controller is configured to provide a separatechannel to each of said memory sections, and wherein said memorycontroller is further programmable with a channel interleave indicationindicating whether or not one or more of said channels are interleaved.40. The system as recited in claim 39 wherein said channel interleaveindication further indicates a fifth portion of said address used toselect one of said channels if one or more of said channels areinterleaved.
 41. A method comprising: programming a memory controllerwith a first indication identifying a first portion of an address of amemory transaction used to select one of a plurality of rows in a memoryfor access in response to said memory transaction and a secondindication identifying a second portion of said address used to selectone of a plurality of columns in said memory for access in response tosaid memory transaction; receiving said address of said memorytransaction in said memory controller; and extracting said first portionand said second portion of said address responsive to said firstindication and said second indication.
 42. The method as recited inclaim 41 further comprising transmitting said first portion to saidmemory separate from said second portion.
 43. The method as recited inclaim 41 wherein said first indication includes a first bit mask,wherein each bit of said first bit mask corresponds to at least one bitof said address, the method further comprising selectively including afirst bit of said address in said first portion responsive to acorresponding bit of said first bit mask.
 44. The method as recited inclaim 43 wherein said second indication includes a second bit mask,wherein each bit of said second bit mask corresponds to at least one bitof said address, the method further comprising selectively including asecond bit of said address in said second portion responsive to acorresponding bit of said second bit mask.
 45. The method as recited inclaim 41 wherein said first indication includes a first bit mask,wherein each bit of said first bit mask corresponds to a bit of saidaddress, the method further comprising selectively including a first bitof said address in said first portion responsive to a corresponding bitof said first bit mask.
 46. The method as recited in claim 45 whereinsaid second indication includes a second bit mask, wherein each bit ofsaid second bit mask corresponds to a bit of said address, the methodfurther comprising selectively including a second bit of said address insaid second portion responsive to a corresponding bit of said second bitmask.
 47. The method as recited in claim 41 wherein said memory isfurther arranged into banks, and wherein a third portion of said addressis used to select one of said banks, the method further comprisingprogramming said memory controller with a third indication identifyingsaid third portion; and transmitting said third portion separate fromsaid first portion and said second portion.
 48. The method as recited inclaim 47 wherein said third indication comprises a third bit mask,wherein each bit of said third bit mask corresponds to at least one bitof said address, the method further comprising selectively including athird bit of said address in said third portion responsive to acorresponding bit of said third bit mask.
 49. The method as recited inclaim 47 wherein said third indication comprises a third bit mask,wherein each bit of said third bit mask corresponds to a bit of saidaddress, the method further comprising selectively including a third bitof said address in said third portion responsive to a corresponding bitof said third bit mask.
 50. The method as recited in claim 41 whereinsaid memory is arranged into two or more memory sections, the methodfurther comprising: providing a different select signal to each of saidmemory sections to select said memory sections to respond to said memorytransaction; and programming said memory controller with an interleavemode for said memory sections.
 51. The method as recited in claim 50wherein said interleave mode is no interleave.
 52. The method as recitedin claim 50 wherein said interleave mode is interleave of a subset ofsaid memory sections and no interleave of remaining ones of said memorysection.
 53. The method as recited in claim 50 wherein said interleavemode is interleave of said memory sections.
 54. The method as recited inclaim 50 wherein a fourth portion of said address is used to select oneof said interleaved memory sections, the method further comprisingprogramming said memory controller with a fourth indication identifyingsaid fourth portion.
 55. The method as recited in claim 54 wherein saidfourth indication comprises a fourth bit mask, wherein each bit of saidfourth bit mask corresponds to at least one bit of said address, themethod further comprising selectively including a fourth bit of saidaddress in said fourth portion responsive to a corresponding bit of saidfourth bit mask.
 56. The method as recited in claim 54 wherein saidfourth indication comprises a fourth bit mask, wherein each bit of saidfourth bit mask corresponds to a bit of said address, the method furthercomprising selectively including a fourth bit of said address in saidfourth portion responsive to a corresponding bit of said fourth bitmask.
 57. The method as recited in claim 41 wherein said memory isarranged in two or more independent memory sections, the method furthercomprising: providing a separate channel to each of said memorysections; and programming said memory controller with a channelinterleave indication indicating whether or not one or more of saidchannels are interleaved.
 58. The method as recited in claim 57 furthercomprising programming said memory controller with a fifth indicationidentifying a fifth portion of said address used to select one of saidchannels if one or more of said channels are interleaved.
 59. A carriermedium comprising a database which is operated upon by a programexecutable on a computer system, the program operating on the databaseto perform a portion of a process to fabricate an integrated circuitincluding circuitry described by the database, the circuitry describedin the database including a memory controller for coupling to a memoryarranged into rows and columns of storage locations and for coupling toreceive an address of a memory transaction, the memory controllercomprising: one or more registers programmable with a first indicationidentifying a first portion of said address used to select one of saidrows for access in response to said memory transaction, and a secondindication identifying a second portion of said address used to selectone of said columns for access in response to said memory transaction;and a circuit coupled to said one or more registers and coupled toreceive said address, wherein said circuit is configured to extract saidfirst portion and said second portion of said address for transmissionto said memory responsive to said first indication and said secondindication in said one or more registers.
 60. The carrier medium asrecited in claim 59 wherein said memory controller is configured totransmit said first portion to said memory separate from said secondportion.
 61. The carrier medium as recited in claim 60 wherein saidmemory controller is configured to transmit said first portion to saidmemory at a different time than said second portion.
 62. The carriermedium as recited in claim 59 wherein said first indication includes afirst bit mask, wherein each bit of said first bit mask corresponds toat least one bit of said address, and wherein said circuit is configuredto selectively include a first bit of said address in said first portionresponsive to a corresponding bit of said first bit mask.
 63. Thecarrier medium as recited in claim 62 wherein said second indicationincludes a second bit mask, wherein each bit of said second bit maskcorresponds to at least one bit of said address, and wherein saidcircuit is configured to selectively include a second bit of saidaddress in said second portion responsive to a corresponding bit of saidsecond bit mask.
 64. The carrier medium as recited in claim 59 whereinsaid first indication includes a first bit mask, wherein each bit ofsaid first bit mask corresponds to a bit of said address, and whereinsaid circuit is configured to selectively include a first bit of saidaddress in said first portion responsive to a corresponding bit of saidfirst bit mask.
 65. The carrier medium as recited in claim 64 whereinsaid second indication includes a second bit mask, wherein each bit ofsaid second bit mask corresponds to a bit of said address, and whereinsaid circuit is configured to selectively include a second bit of saidaddress in said second portion responsive to a corresponding bit of saidsecond bit mask.
 66. The carrier medium as recited in claim 59 whereinsaid memory is further arranged into banks, and wherein said one or moreregisters are further programmable with a third indication identifying athird portion of said address used to select one of said banks.
 67. Thecarrier medium as recited in claim 66 wherein said memory controller isconfigured to transmit said third portion separate from said firstportion and said second portion.
 68. The carrier medium as recited inclaim 66 wherein said third indication comprises a third bit mask,wherein each bit of said third bit mask corresponds to at least one bitof said address, and wherein said circuit is configured to selectivelyinclude a third bit of said address in said third portion responsive toa corresponding bit of said third bit mask.
 69. The carrier medium asrecited in claim 66 wherein said third indication comprises a third bitmask, wherein each bit of said third bit mask corresponds to a bit ofsaid address, and wherein said circuit is configured to selectivelyinclude a third bit of said address in said third portion responsive toa corresponding bit of said third bit mask.
 70. The carrier medium asrecited in claim 59 wherein said memory is arranged into two or morememory sections, and wherein said memory controller is configured toprovide a different select signal to each of said memory sections toselect said memory sections to respond to said memory transaction, andwherein said one or more registers are further programmable with aninterleave mode for said memory sections.
 71. The carrier medium asrecited in claim 70 wherein said interleave mode is no interleave. 72.The carrier medium as recited in claim 70 wherein said interleave modeis interleave of a subset of said memory sections and no interleave ofremaining ones of said memory sections.
 73. The carrier medium asrecited in claim 70 wherein said interleave mode is interleave of saidmemory sections.
 74. The carrier medium as recited in claim 70 whereinsaid one or more registers are further programmable with a fourthindication identifying a fourth portion of said address which is used toselect one of said interleaved memory sections.
 75. The carrier mediumas recited in claim 74 wherein said fourth indication comprises a fourthbit mask, wherein each bit of said fourth bit mask corresponds to atleast one bit of said address, and wherein said circuit is configured toselectively include a fourth bit of said address in said fourth portionresponsive to a corresponding bit of said fourth bit mask.
 76. Thecarrier medium as recited in claim 74 wherein said fourth indicationcomprises a fourth bit mask, wherein each bit of said fourth bit maskcorresponds to a bit of said address, and wherein said circuit isconfigured to selectively include a fourth bit of said address in saidfourth portion responsive to a corresponding bit of said fourth bitmask.
 77. The carrier medium as recited in claim 59 wherein said memoryis arranged in two or more independent memory sections, and wherein saidmemory controller is configured to provide a separate channel to each ofsaid memory sections, and wherein said one or more registers are furtherprogrammable with a channel interleave indication indicating whether ornot one or more of said channels are interleaved.
 78. The carrier mediumas recited in claim 77 wherein said channel interleave indicationfurther indicates a fifth portion of said address used to select one ofsaid channels if one or more of said channels are interleaved.